After his team’s victory in the last 16 of Euro 2024 on Sunday against Georgia (4-1), Luis de La Fuente assured that Spain had never doubted.
Despite Georgia’s opening score, Spain coach Luis de La Fuente assured that his team never doubted in the round of 16 of Euro-2024 on Sunday, even believing that the match (4-1) “could have finished at 8-1”.
“We can’t control the game all the time. The opponents are good and can also score. But we knew how to keep a cool head.”stressed the coach, whose team was trailing 1-0 after 18 minutes of play.
“We knew that the danger came from counterattacks and transitions but (before the goal) they had not shot once and they scored on an own goal”he also noted.
“Apart from a few minutes, we had total control of the match and each (match) situation makes us better because we learn from all situations”he continued.
Yamal “can still do better”
But, after this brief moment of nervousness, “we created a lot of chances, we could have finished the match at 8-1”he judged.
Asked in particular about the significant number of opportunities wasted by Lamine Yamal, 16 years and 11 months, in this match and who has not yet opened his account in this Euro, De La Fuente acknowledged that he would have “could have been calmer at times”.
“He played an excellent match but he can do even better (…) He has a lot of self-confidence but sometimes he takes risks when the match requires keeping the ball”added the technician, who trained the under-19s (2013-2018) and the Espoirs (2018-2022).
“He is learning and gaining experience at a very young age and with very good players around him”he concluded.
